Boyce, Spencer take tops at BSSAC
The tide seems to be changing at the Powerade Barbados Secondary Schools Athletic Championships as two juniors walked off with the Victor and Victrix Ludorum titles. With the St. Michael School and Christ Church Foundation taking the Boys and Girls titles respectively, sound challenges were issued by Harrison College and Alleyne School over the competition with the two producing the top boy and girl, respectively.
HC’s Aren Spencer hails from Under-15 and he beat out a field that included Coleridge and Parry’s Enrique Babb (33.5) and Josh Newton of Princess Margaret (32) to win the Victor Ludorum title with 38 points. The 14-year-old secured the post with three Golds and a Silver. With the second place coming in the High Jump with 1.66 metres behind St. Leonard’s Boys’ Brandon Fan Fan, who had 1.69 metres, Spencer seemed almost unstoppable as he took wins in the 400 metre with 53.25 seconds, the Long Jump with 6.00 metres and the 100 Metre Hurdles with 14.51 seconds.
Speaking to the Barbados Advocate after the announcement, Spencer said that it felt good as he only took up Track and Field at Under-13. “It feels amazing! I’ve just been putting in work from summer and it feels amazing right now. I did well in my first year in Under-13, but last year I didn’t do so well so that kind of motivated me.” he said.
Leaving an impressive trail of performances in his wake, Spencer said that it was all due to his training. “Just different training on different days, since summer like I said. Some days I have strength training, some days it’s speed training and some days I have jumping training.”
Heading into Under-17 next year, Spencer said that he would be looking to specialise, but he was not sure where he would be placing his efforts just yet.
Also raking in 38 points for the Victrix Ludorum title was Brieanna Boyce of the Alleyne School. Boyce stormed her way onto the scene in her first year in the competition to beat out the likes of Foundation’s Hannah Connell and Harrison College’s Akayla Morris for the top spot. She, like Spencer, had three Golds and a Silver, with her second place seeing her come home behind Layla Haynes of Harrison College in the Under-13 Girls 800 Metre. Boyce clocked 2:34.16 minutes while Haynes broke a 1994 record put up by Nikkisha Maynard (2:29.76) with 2:29.65 minutes. With 13.30 seconds in the 100 Metre, 26.58 seconds in the 200 Metre and a personal best of 1:02.03 minutes in the 400 Metre, Boyce was well on her way to the title.
By the end of the day on Friday, she had no voice left and so a source close to her informed the Barbados Advocate that she trained with the Lodge School’s coach Clifton Phillips, two to three days a week. With the other days in the week going to the Alleyne School’s programme, her week is filled and she rests on weekends. The source also stated that her training would have started since last year in the off-season, which would have helped her to the outstanding performances over the course of the meet. Having moved through the ranks at NAPSAC with St. Joseph Primary, Boyce also copped the Victrix Ludorum title at Alleyne this year while knocking down a longstanding record at the school’s sports day.